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Why Does Genesis Command a Man (Not a Woman) to Leave His Parents?
Recently, one of my students asked me an important question: “Is there any significance to God telling the man he “shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife” (Gen. 2:24)? Why is the wife not to leave her family? Great question. Let’s begin with how the ESV translators render the verse in question: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” Contrast that with how the NET translators render the verse, especially noting the parts in italics, which I added to both texts: “That is why a man leaves his father and…
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1 Way Parenthood Is Like Noah’s Life of Faith
Judah, my middle child, is a rocks, sticks, leaves, tree-climbing kind of boy. On one of our Fall walks a couple years ago, He picked up an acorn and with an excited smile, said, “Look!” As he handed them to me for safe keeping. What I thought were simple, brown acorns, the kind with tops that look like hats, he thought were beautiful seeds of possibility. A Simple Seed I began to think about how I felt like that acorn. Tossed. Un-noticed. Set-aside from the hustle of busy, important people, going to busy, important places, doing busy, important things. Did my holding a fist full of acorns matter? But then,…
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How Mothers Reveal the Image of God
Motherhood reveals the image of God in a profound way. I witnessed my friend, Melissa, mother her kids. She peacefully prepared three plates of food for her young boys. Yogurt. Chicken. Ketchup. Noodles. They sat around and ate while trying to teach the baby to say “Bible” and instead he shouts, “Jack, Jack.” The room laughs. Later that night she held her toddler on her lap for sweet face-to-face time before bed. He curled into Melissa like her lap belongs to him. It does. Her arms, her face, her knees that bend low to listen. Her hands that hold the book at bedtime. In some ways her body belongs to her…
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Tamar in Genesis: Rabbit Trail or Key to Understanding the Joseph Story?
I’m happy to have Carolyn Custis James as my guest today. In Vindicating the Vixens, she contributed the chapter on Tamar. In November she served on a panel of contributors who talked about narrative analysis at the national meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in Providence, Rhode Island. Here are some quotes from her remarks: [In the Genesis narrative] just as the Joseph story reaches a fever pitch and readers are on the edge of their seats, instead of following Joseph into Egypt, the narrator follows Judah away from his family into Canaanite territory and into a salacious R-rated story involving prostitution with his daughter-in-law, Tamar. From a literary perspective, the narrator’s…
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What Is Intersex and What Does the Bible Say about It?
We see the acronym LGBTIQA, and we might not even know what every letter stands for. To have conversations with people who self-identify in any of the represented categories, we need some basic language for communication: The acronym LGBTIQA stands for: 1) "L" – lesbians 2) "G" – gays 3) "B" – bisexuals 4) "T" – transgender people 5) "I" – intersex people 6) "Q" – queer and questioning people 7) "A" – asexual people and allies (Notice “homosexual” is not on the list—many consider that word “Christianese.”) Recently, I have had conversations with Christian leaders who’ve told me, “I don’t even know what intersex is.” I also hear people…
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The Tapeworm Gallery: Tall Tales
I see you putting the last touches on your Sunday school lesson on Genesis 2 and 3. Lots to cover in one hour. But you can do it. Glancing over your notes, I ought to point out a few technicalities. Hope you don't mind. God made everything. He declared everything he made as good. And he made Adam and Eve—very good. That lasted. But remember that infamous tree? He and your type have fussed over it for centuries. Anyhoo…interesting that he planted it smack in the middle of the garden. That thing was as hidden as a stripper pole dancing during…
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The Nature of Grace
“Don’t you see, you planned evil against me but God used those same plans for my good, as you see all around you right now—life for many people.” (Genesis 50:20, The Message). It’s embarrassing to admit, but for almost a decade now, I’ve viewed Genesis 50:20 as simply the verse that brought me comfort* after a painful breakup. He was my first serious boyfriend, I was infatuated with being in love, and I was truly shocked that someone would dump me in such an abrupt and callous manner. So in my 19-year-old mind, I categorized my ex-boyfriend’s actions as “evil” but took heart that God had “good” (read “someone better…
